Time machine stalls and quits

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Level 1

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Time machine stalls and quits

I have tried everything already suggested throughout these discussions but my TM will only backup approx 47.7MB of 37.08GB.

I'm using a MBP running Mountain Lion and have run Disk utility on the USB drive which contains the Sparsebundle, to no avail.

I found this in a MacWorld Forum :-

"Didn't work for me in 10.5.2! My time machine image corrupted a few times running 10.5.2, usually due to the mac going to sleep during the backup, and it required fsck_hfs with the -r switch (catalog btree rebuild) to repair successfully each time. Disk Utility always failed to repair the image. I assume that's the change in 10.5.3, Disk Utility now runs fsck_hfs with -r. "

Can someone tell me how to use the 'fsck_hfs -r' on the offchance that this might solve my problem?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Jun 3, 2013 3:42 PM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

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Jun 3, 2013 5:47 PM in response to seonaid1

How is the drive connected to your computer?

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Answer 2

Pondini

Level 8

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Jun 3, 2013 5:54 PM in response to Linc Davis

Hi, Linc,

Sorry for the intrusion, but I just posted a thread in the Water Cooler you may want to see.

Thanks.

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Answer 3

seonaid1 Author

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Jun 4, 2013 8:13 AM in response to Linc Davis

The drive is connected through the USB port on the AEBS.

When I ran DIsk Utility on the drive it was connected that way but I also ran it when connected directly to a USB port on the MBP.

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Answer 4

Pondini

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Jun 4, 2013 8:32 AM in response to seonaid1

seonaid1 wrote:

The drive is connected through the USB port on the AEBS.

I hate to have to tell you this, but backing-up that way is often unreliable and not supported by Apple. See: Using Time Machine with an Airport Extreme Air Disk.

As noted there, for some, it works fine; for others, fairly well, for still others, not at all.

Data corruption, sometimes repairable, often not, is not unexpected. 😟

I'd strongly recommend finding a more reliable destination. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #2.

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Answer 5

Linc Davis

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Jun 4, 2013 9:00 AM in response to seonaid1

Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Extreme AirPort Disks

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Answer 6

seonaid1 Author

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Jun 4, 2013 1:24 PM in response to Pondini

You know, I'm tempted to say "where were you three years ago when I setup my Time Machine" ? <big grin>

As our American cousins say " YourTheMan".

That's some tutorial you put together on the Time Machine and as I said above, I just wish I had known about my future issues all that time ago.

However, to get back to today:- I went into the sparesebundle and removed the 'In Progress' section -- didn't help. So then (wait for it) I removed the final piece of the sparsebundle which was labelled 'Latest' !!!

I have just restarted Time Machine after selecting one of two '2TB' discs and was told what it was 'In use' so selected the other '2TB' disc and now a backup is running to a total of 42.19GB. The total used on my MBP drive is about 120GB.

Final problem now is that Time Machine is showing 'None' for previous backups so my next question is, is it (a) possible to connect this new backup to the original sparsebundle or (b) is the original sparsebundle available by selecting the OTHER '2TB' disc ?

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Answer 7

Eric Root

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Jun 4, 2013 1:45 PM in response to seonaid1

You can do a backup to the older sparse bundle to continue using it, but I don't think you can merge sparse bundles. For an "in use", try rurning the drive off and then back on.

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Answer 8

Pondini

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Jun 4, 2013 1:56 PM in response to seonaid1

seonaid1 wrote:

. . .

However, to get back to today:- I went into the sparesebundle and removed the 'In Progress' section -- didn't help.

No, it won't. Sometimes after repeated failures, or accidentally trying to back up something huge, it will fill up the drive and needs to be deleted to get some space, but that's all.

So then (wait for it) I removed the final piece of the sparsebundle which was labelled 'Latest' !!!

That's just an alias to the most recent completed backup. Fortunately, Time Machine will replace it.

Please do not go deleting things if you're not sure what you're doing. You may damage them beyond repair. OSX tries to protect you from yourself, but can't prevent everything.

I have just restarted Time Machine after selecting one of two '2TB' discs and was told what it was 'In use'

See #C12 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

Final problem now is that Time Machine is showing 'None'

It just hasn't gathered the information yet. See #B3 in the same link.

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Answer 9

seonaid1 Author

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Jun 4, 2013 2:16 PM in response to Pondini

Many thanks Pondini (sorry about the 'American cousins thing' , I missed the Florida handle <ouch> )

Anyway, here's hoping I have finger-poken enough into my TM and will have no more hiccups.

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Answer 10

seonaid1 Author

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Jun 4, 2013 2:18 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks Eric. You never know, things may just work out in the end. I always thought Apple was pretty intuitive even after my fiddling.

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Answer 11

Eric Root

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Jun 4, 2013 2:46 PM in response to seonaid1

You're welcome.

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Answer 12

seonaid1 Author

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Jun 5, 2013 8:43 AM in response to Pondini

IHello again, sorry to say !

The latest news in the Time Machine Saga:-

After finding no success in running backups to the original external disk, I erased a 500GB drive used before adopting the 2 terabyte in the hope of eliminating one item from the chain but sad to say backups still failed with the 'new' drive.

Is it possible to run an Apple backup by Time Machine with an external disk connected to a USB port on my Netgear router? This would eliminate the AEBS as a possible source of problems and it is just data that is being routed from the MBP to an Apple formatted drive ?

Otherwise, I shall have to revert to manual Retrospect backups and forget Time Machine altogether.

There was a time, back in OS9 days, when one could rely on Apple upgrades to function seamlessly (Ha Ha).

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Answer 13

Pondini

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Jun 5, 2013 8:56 AM in response to seonaid1

seonaid1 wrote:

. . .

After finding no success in running backups to the original external disk, I erased a 500GB drive used before adopting the 2 terabyte in the hope of eliminating one item from the chain but sad to say backups still failed with the 'new' drive.

That's a USB drive, right? Can you connect it directly to a USB port by itself, to see if it works that way?

How are these drives connected? If daisy-chained, you might want to try a hub. If you do, it's only a few bucks more to get a powered one, and that might make the difference, if power is the problem.

Is it possible to run an Apple backup by Time Machine with an external disk connected to a USB port on my Netgear router?

Unlikely to work at all; if it does, corruption is very likely. Not supported by Apple.

This would eliminate the AEBS as a possible source of problems and it is just data that is being routed from the MBP to an Apple formatted drive ?

Apple isn't specific (surprise!) about why it works on a TC but not (or not well) on an AEBS.

My suspicion is, for whatever reason, they're not as good at error detection and/or recovery.

And don't get me started about NASs. 😉

Otherwise, I shall have to revert to manual Retrospect backups and forget Time Machine altogether.

Are you familiar with CarbonCopyCloner? It's a great product, with great support, which many of us run in addition to Time Machine. I haven't used it over a network, but they say it works. There's a 30-day free trial, so you might want to give it a try.

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Answer 14

seonaid1 Author

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Jun 5, 2013 9:52 AM in response to Pondini

<That's a USB drive, right? Can you connect it directly to a USB port by itself, to see if it works that way?>

I have connected each drive individually (that's one at a time) to a) the AEBS and b)a USB port on the MBP, Each time there has been some backup varying between 42.7MB and 3.89GB (that was a surprise) but nothing consistent -- no, wait a minute, consistently useless 😠

Although there has been no operations (read 'fiddling') with the AEBS, I wonder if a reset smartly applied would be of any help ?

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Answer 15

Pondini

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Jun 5, 2013 10:02 AM in response to seonaid1

Sorry, I thought you were connecting it to your Mac.

The USB port on the AEBS (and Time Capsule) is underpowered. A large drive, even with it's own power, may still draw too much from it. Try a powered hub.

But you're trying to do something Apple doesn't support, and that doesn't work well for most who try it.

If you do get it to work, most likely you'll see this before long, and fairly frequently:

See #C13 in Time Machine - Troubleshooting.

If your Mac is lost or stolen, or there's a major problem with it, you may not have any warning before realizing that your backups are useless.

If you do, you've been warned repeatedly: don't come here complaining about it.

Message was edited by: Pondini

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